Gecko Stipple

Bella Romero

ARTIST STATEMENT

This piece was inspired by my pet crested gecko, Artemis. Around the time that I made the piece, I had finally settled on what kind of reptile I wanted, as I had known I wanted one for quite some time. Finally, I had settled on the species that I loved the most. The work was essentially an immortalization of that love for the species, and for my love for my pet. This piece was perhaps the most difficult thing I have ever worked on. No other work of mine has tested my patience like this one; it was so tedious, and I knew exactly how I wanted it to look when finished, but I had to wait. Stippling is a painstaking process; every single mark on the paper is a single dot, and if you aren’t careful and slow, you may end up with a line, pulling the uniformity and beauty away from your piece. Though that certainly was not easier, it was a huge step in my artistic career, as it taught me just how rewarding something could be when it was worked on carefully and thoroughly.